


A Viper's Cat

by disaster_imp



Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and more fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:15:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28239816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disaster_imp/pseuds/disaster_imp
Summary: Gaetan has been keeping a secret, and it's time to come clean.
Relationships: Gaetan/Letho z Gulety | Letho of Gulet
Comments: 26
Kudos: 86
Collections: BIKM Secret Santa Event 2020, Vipurr: A Collection of Cat and Snake in Love (or just Murder Husbands)





	A Viper's Cat

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rawrkinjd](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rawrkinjd/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Cabinet of Curiosities](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25553989) by [rawrkinjd](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rawrkinjd/pseuds/rawrkinjd), [round_robin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/round_robin/pseuds/round_robin). 



> The OCs in this are not mine, they belong to rawrkinjd and round_robin of amazing writing in general and [Cabinet of Curiosities](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25553989/chapters/62008177) in particular, check out their wonderful works.
> 
> For Rawr... I couldn't decide which one to do, so I did both.
> 
> Beta'd by the wonderful [Megeara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megeara/pseuds/Megeara)

“How long have we been here again, lover mine?” Gaetan asks, blinking sleepily while Letho cleans the aftermath of a particularly enthusiastic morning from his skin with a cool, wet cloth.

Letho arches an eyebrow. “Four years. Why?”

Gaetan hums, his eyes falling closed again. “Long enough to…” he drawls, trailing off as he falls back asleep. Letho shakes his head, covering the sleeping man with a thin sheet. Mettina summers give little respite from the heat, and the windows are open to let the early morning breeze cool the room.

Letho watches his gangly Cat doze. He’s been acting oddly, this past couple of months, worse since Lambert and Aiden arrived a few days ago. Distracted, frequently disappearing, returning with a scent that Letho doesn’t recognise. Not unpleasant; not the scent of another person, or of sex, or of anything Letho can place, but a scent that he has only vaguely associated with Gaetan over the past two years, and is suddenly _much stronger._

He tosses the washcloth back into its bowl and pads out of the room to refresh the water. He makes it to the door before realising he’s still stark naked, something the servants never seem to appreciate, even if Gaetan finds it entertaining. Muttering to himself, he turns back and dons a pair of trousers.

When Gaetan wakes, he’s alone. Letho has his duties, and as much as he likes waking up with the giant Viper curled protectively around him, today he has a job of his own to do. Leaping to his feet and dressing quickly, he steps out of his room and off to steal Aiden away from his wolf. Together, they make their way to their hidden place, an ancient passage that runs between the stables and the keep that nobody else seems to know exists. He had discovered it quite by accident, two years ago, and it has been the perfect hiding place for his project. It does help that there are several entrances to the tunnel. Unfortunately, most of them open out into other people’s bedrooms. Fancy, important bedrooms. Bedrooms Letho has _almost_ caught him exiting, once or twice. The safest route is via the stables, but it’s also the longest.

Aiden grins at him. Today, finally, is the culmination of four years of planning, plotting, organising and secrecy, and it’s going to be _spectacular._ Aiden has dragged Lambert back for a break, ostensibly to visit their friends. With the wolves regularly wintering at Kaer Morhen again, and no real need to hole up for winter in Nilfgaard, it was getting harder each year to collect everyone together; Geralt and Eskel would still visit, occasionally, but they weren’t here now.

The first trap is left in Coën and Ixora’s quarters. They are both absent on guard duty, and Aiden sneaks in quietly to set it on the bed, Gaetan waiting outside in case anyone should come along to intrude. He closes the door softly behind himself again, and the conspirators are off to Grayson’s rooms. Aiden had convinced Lambert to keep the Bear busy for an hour or two this morning, without telling him why. Gaetan deposits the basket prepared for Grayson at the foot of his bed, and Gaetan and Aiden go their separate ways with another woven basket each. Aiden is practically _skipping_ with excitement, and Gaetan knows the grin on his own face is suspiciously untempered.

When he gets to their rooms, Gaetan gently places his basket in a corner out of the way, careful not to agitate the contents. He has time, before Letho will return, so he heads to the kitchens to scavenge food for a shared lunch. He’s just finished laying the table when Letho opens the door. The large Viper glances around the room suspiciously, scenting something out of place, frowning when he is unable to determine what.

Gaetan grins at him, and points to the food spread out on the table just as a thump and a hiss sounds from the corner. 

“What…?” Letho says, spying the cane basket. 

“Careful,” Gaetan cautions, his smile almost splitting his face in half.

Letho scowls, and flicks the lid open. A small, furry orange face with wide blue eyes immediately pops up over the edge, unafraid and curious, and Letho gasps. Gaetan pulls a length of string out of his pocket, wriggling it on the floor, and the tiny ball of fur bounces out of the box, aiming for the improvised toy. Another head, striped grey and black, pops up. The second kitten jumps out of the basket with considerably more decorum. It watches its sibling tear around after the piece of string with disdain for a minute, and then joins in the chase.

Gaetan leads the pair over to Letho, who stiffens. He doesn’t know why two _kittens_ are here, or why they aren’t freaking out over Gaetan’s presence, but he’s certain there is no way in hell they are going to extend the same courtesy to _Letho._

“Relax,” Gaetan says, waving Letho into an armchair next to the bed. Letho sits down with a thump, and Gaetan dangles the string up and over the bed. The kittens claw their way up the bedcovers like tiny sharp fiends. Gaetan hides his string again, and lets them explore.

One latches onto the others’ wriggling tail, earning a smack for its trouble, and Letho laughs aloud at their antics. For a while, they chase each other around on top of the bed, until the ginger one falls off with a soft plop, landing on its feet. It shakes its head and glares at Gaetan as if to cast blame, then claws its way up Letho’s leg with needle-sharp claws. Letho winces, but sits perfectly still, waiting for the kitten to realise who - _what_ \- he is.

The kitten, who is apparently lacking any sense of self-preservation, climbs all the way up to perch on Letho’s shoulder, watching him curiously. It bats at a loose thread on his collar, decides it is the enemy and pounces, worrying the thread in its tiny jaw. It falls off Letho’s shoulder in the process, tumbling down into his lap. When it finds its feet again, it stares at Letho with an expression so offended that Gaetan doubles over laughing. Staring Letho down, the kitten claws its way back up his chest to his shoulder and sticks a damp nose into his ear.

Letho flinches away with a growl, and instead of startling, the kitten wraps its paws around his head, jaws open wide, and tries to get a grip on Letho’s bald pate to worry at that, instead.

Gaetan loses it, his ass landing on the floor with a thump, laughing hard enough for tears to stream down his face while Letho stares at him helplessly. When the kitten finally realises it can’t hold its tiny jaws open wide enough to be effective, it holds Letho’s head in place with its claws, and starts to bathe him with its tiny, rough tongue.

Letho reaches up a hand to pluck the kitten off his head, and the little thing wriggles and squirms in his grip, biting at his fingers until he puts it down on the floor. It shakes its entire body, throwing a baleful glare at Letho that lasts all of two seconds, until something else catches its attention. 

Gaetan keeps the pair of them busy until they run out of energy, and then deposits them both on Letho’s lap. One bites the others’ ear, a little half-heartedly, then they both knead at Letho’s trousers before curling around each other and falling asleep.

Letho watches them, eyes full of wonder. “How - ” he asks, looking over to Gaetan.

Gaetan shrugs, stretching himself out on the bed close to Letho. “Training. Four years. Griffin and Wyvern were from Ffyrnig’s first litter. The ginger one is a boy, the grey a girl. Aiden has another girl to take back to Kaer Morhen.”

“Ffyrnig?”

“Grandmother to these two monsters. It means fierce, in Elder. Soon after we settled in here, Aiden and I started spending a lot of time in the stables…”

  
  


**Four years earlier**

Living inside the castle with its enclosed spaces and its lack of escape from _people_ was taking its toll on Gaetan, and with Letho spending so many long days at his new responsibilities, his emotions are on a hair trigger. He runs with Aiden, scaling walls, climbing any stable - and some not so stable - structure they can find, and strangely, they chance upon a mutual place in the stables.

Lying side by side across twin rafters, they watch the occasional bird flit around the roof while everyday sounds rise from below. Horses, stamping and snorting, the soft swish of a broom sweeping out stalls, grain tumbling into feeders, the regular brush strokes of a horse being groomed, occasional quiet voices - it’s almost soothing.

Until the blacksmith comes, and the clanging and hammering of nailing iron shoes to hooves disturbing the peace drives the pair away, only to return when the noise has settled and everything is calm again.

The stable has a resident cat, and Gaetan and Aiden watch her with as much fascination as they do the birds. Hunting mice and rats, pouncing on the occasional insect or beetle, she pays the pair of witchers little attention. Unless a breeze wafts through the building, carrying whatever it is about their scent that disturbs felines, they are too far away for her to be bothered.

As summer's heat fades, Gaetan notices that the cat is growing fat and slow - clumsy, even, and one of the stable-hands starts to bring her food. One day, she is no longer there at all. When she is missing for a second day, Gaetan hunts down the stablehand that was feeding her, and is shown to the tack room. 

Under a bench, in a wooden crate lined with old clothing, is the stable cat. Attached to her belly, a writhing mass of furry, multicoloured slugs, mewling and pushing for access to her milk. She directs a baleful glare at the doorway, but when Gaetan doesn't move from his position, she ignores him. Aiden flips down from the roof to land silently just behind Gaetan, and gasps.

"Can we...?" Aiden whispers in Gaetan's ear. Gaetan looks over his shoulder. "I think. I guess... this is home now, right? Maybe? Let's... we can try? Will they let us have one?" 

Aiden turns his excess of energy and a toothy grin onto the stablehand, who backs off a step. "You're not going to... hurt them, are you?" the man asks, glancing nervously between the kittens and Aiden.

Gaetan snorts, and Aiden scowls at the man. "Of course not."

"Keep it a secret. I want to surprise Lambert," Aiden says, his eyes shining, as if the outcome is already a foregone conclusion.

"Letho too," Gaetan grins. "We could keep her here, in the stables. We spend so much time here anyway."

"How long?"

"Two more generations, so Cilian told me. Four years, I guess?."

_Cilian had been another Cat witcher, the first - the only, Gaetan amended, to bring a cat to the Dyn Marv, when the caravan had still existed. Now long dead, at one point he had been badly injured in the hunt for what he was told was a rogue wyvern. It turned out to be a red dragon, one who had not troubled the villagers until they decided to try and hunt it down. Cilian was caught in the ensuing rampage._

_He didn't kill the dragon. He was lucky to escape with his life. Limping out of the inferno, the left side of his body painfully burnt, he opened the door to a still-standing barn to let out any animals that might still be alive. Inside the door, shaking and terrified, a small kitten stared up at him. He picked it up, opening doors and gates to let frantic animals escape the smoke, snatched a bridle from a hook on his way out and bolted just as creaking timbers gave way, the barn collapsing behind him._

_Tucking the kitten into the front of his gambeson, he followed the path of a sturdy-looking horse for a couple of miles before it calmed enough to slow to a walk. It was a little longer before he could safely approach it, slowed as he was by his injuries, but it responded well to a soft voice and let him bridle it without a fuss. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he jumped onto its saddle-less back, and turned it in the direction of the Dyn Marv caravan._

_The kitten remained, keeping Cilian company while he healed, and he named her Marú - killer, in his native language. She never grew fond of the other witchers, tolerating only Cilian, but then she had a litter of her own kittens, two of which remained with the caravan. Still aloof and wary, they generously permitted witchers to feed them. They travelled with the caravan, and on the coldest winter nights, would sometimes even sleep inside a witcher's shelter._

_The next generation of kittens surprised everyone. As their mother was indifferent to the witchers, and they were born surrounded by the witcher scent, they adapted, responding to witchers much as they would to regular humans. Nobody really owned them - the witchers themselves tended to come and go, and the cats usually favoured a particular wagon or two rather than a particular witcher. For their part, the witchers found it amusing that they were the only school with cats, indulging in the demands for laps and pats, and their feline friends were well looked after._

Gaetan names the kitten Ffyrnig, for the fiery gusto with which she approaches play with her siblings, collecting several notches in her ears for her trouble and administering as many in turn, permanent reminders of her youthful ferocity. As she grows, her fearless kitten enthusiasm resolves to fearlessness as an adult, a proud, aloof cat who refuses to be bred by just any tom. Gaetan suspects that even without the castle mage's assistance in preventing a pregnancy until she was fully grown, Ffyrnig would not have permitted such a thing until she was ready. Truly, a cat worthy of Witchers. 

He waits patiently, the feisty Ffyrnig finally becoming round with kittens two summers after her own birth. Aiden makes a point of dragging Lambert back to Mettina every summer for a break and a visit, and stays to help with the next generation. 

Mysteriously, shortly before Aiden and Lambert leave for the path again, a pair of kittens is found in the throne room, much to the fascination of Lauren and Rennes, who insist on keeping them. They name them Griffin and Wyvern.

Gaetan keeps one young female, leaving her in the stables to keep her mother and grandmother company. Aiden names her Dagger. 

Dagger, of course, has her mother’s feisty spirit. Though still not affectionate with the witchers, she is fearless, and has a greater tolerance for their presence. She will sleep in a basket at Gaetan's feet, allows him to feed her by hand, and even occasionally permits him to brush her fur with a curry brush. As a kitten, she is also something of an explorer, finding her way amongst the stacks of hay at the rear of the barn.

Until one day, Gaetan can't find her.

Carefully following her scent to the stacks of hay at the far end of the barn, he listens carefully. There is the occasional scurry of a mouse, or the huff and stamp of a horse in its stall, the sound of a broom swishing across the floor. No sounds of distressed kitten.

Her scent is strongest in a tiny gap between two stacks of hay, so Gaetan rearranges the structure, starting at the top. By the time he has reached the bottom, still there is no kitten. Sniffing carefully, there is a place on the floor where her scent just... disappears. He steps forward, and instead of the sound of boot on hard-packed dirt, the sharper sound of his boot striking timber sounds in his ears. Sweeping the hay away from the floor with his hands, he uncovers a large trap door. One corner, rotted away, has left a hole large enough for a small animal to crawl - or fall - through.

Lifting the trap door, Gaetan is unsurprised to find only a pitch-black void below. Igni is no good, he doesn't want to set fire to either hay or kitten, so he takes a lamp from a post in the stables and lights that, using a rope to lower it down into the dark space.

An ancient wooden ladder, the rungs badly rotted and disintegrating, leads down to a packed dirt floor. It's close enough for Gaetan to climb out again, so he drops down to explore. Still, there is no sign of Dagger. There are spiderwebs everywhere, the door and the tunnel both long forgotten. 

The tunnel is made of arched stone, and judging by its position, follows the line of a path through the courtyard. When it reaches the castle wall, there are stairs, branching off into passages that run through the walls around the edge of the castle. Gaetan follows Dagger's scent to a ledge above a small hole in the wall that looks into an ornate bedroom. Escape tunnels, long forgotten, Gaetan muses. Dagger yawns, dropping down from her perch to land lightly at Gaetan's feet. She meows a demand for food, and pads lightly after Gaetan as he leads the way out again. Too small to jump out herself, Gaetan lifts her up to an offended squeak of protest. He covers the gap she must have squeezed through to prevent her from getting trapped again, and rearranges the hay to keep the trap door well hidden from discovery. He would come back and explore more later.

He would have to tell Letho about the passages eventually, but for now it could wait. It had remained hidden for long enough, another couple of years won't matter - and it will give Dagger somewhere safe to have her kittens, when the time comes.

**Present day**

“You… three generations? Four years?” Letho asks, his eyes wide. “How the fuck did you keep this a secret?”

“We were already spending a lot of time in the stables,” Gaetan says with a shrug. “Aiden helped, when he was here. You have more responsibilities, I had the time to look after them. I hoped the stables would obscure any scent of cat, but I also figured you wouldn’t be too familiar with warm happy cat smells. Aiden has one, we left one for Coën and Ixora and another with Grayson. You want to go check on them?”

Letho stares at the kittens sleeping comfortably on his lap, prodding them gently with a thick finger. One kicks a leg out in reflex, then burrows its face back into its sibling. He looks at Gaetan in consternation. “I think… I’m stuck here now?”

“Trapped by a pair of kittens,” a smiling Gaetan teases, scooping them up in his hands. He keeps hold of one, placing the other still-sleeping bundle of warm fur back in Letho’s arms when he stands up. “Come on, Grayson first.”

Grayson’s kitten is the smallest of the litter, a feisty little ginger tabby. Gaetan pauses at the door for a moment, chuckling when he hears Grayson muttering inside. “Get over here, you little brat!”

Letho knocks, and the door is flung open with a growled “what now?”

Catching sight of Gaetan and Letho, Grayson’s frown deepens. “This child of chaos your fault?” he asks, waving at his room.

Letho points helpfully at Gaetan. “His fault.”

“Aiden helped,” Gaetan says happily. “Everything okay in here?”

“I opened the damn basked and it shot out like a rocket, sat on the bed glaring at me as if I was personally responsible for all of its regrets, then started knocking everything off the table! Why isn’t it hissing at me?”

“He,” Gaetan says, grinning widely. “Cat school secret. Congratulations, your cat is an asshole. Sit down, look, he’s worn himself out.”

The kitten in question is half way up a curtain, clinging on with four sets of sharp claws, eyes rolling back in its head, determined not to fall asleep. Gaetan gives his kitten to Letho and gently disentangles Grayson’s tiny monster from the curtain, plonking it onto Grayson’s ample lap. Grayson tenses, waiting for a negative reaction, but the kitten just claws at his clothing until he falls asleep, stretched out across Grayson’s legs.

“You can pat him,” Gaetan says. 

Cautiously, Grayson reaches his hand out, ready to snatch it back if the tiny cat objects.

“Stroke in the direction of his fur. Scratching his cheeks too, it will get his scent on you, they like that,” Gaetan instructs, and within moments the little bundle of fur is purring away with a rumble far too loud for his tiny size.

Gaetan hops from one foot to the other. “Come on, let’s see how the others are getting along.” 

Bouncing out of the room towards Coën and Ixora’s quarters, they arrive at the same time as Lambert and Aiden, Lambert carefully holding a bundle of marbled grey fur, unable to tear his eyes away for more than a moment.

Gaetan listens at the door again, and this time the only sound coming from inside is soft giggling. He knocks, and Ixora opens the door a crack. One look at the kitten-carrying witchers, and she puts a finger to her lips, opening the door wide to show a sleeping Coën, flat on his back on the bed, a multi-colored kitten asleep on his stomach.

“The kitten fell asleep, and he refused to move it,” Ixora informs them.

Gaetan looks sideways at Letho, who definitely doesn’t blush.

Closing the door, Gaetan quietly drops his kitten on the bed, and the others do the same. Grayson’s wakes up and pounces on the others, rolling and tumbling, and soon Coën and the kitten on his lap are also awake. Coën watches silently while the five little creatures tear around after each other, siblings at play.

Aiden and Gaetan explain again how it was all possible. Letho, of course, wants to see and secure the secret tunnels. Ixora is impressed with the patience and commitment from the unruly pair of Cat witchers. Grayson just hums, but reaches out to stroke at soft fur occasionally, and wriggles his fingers on the bed, drawing the little ginger to attack. 

“Ouch, you little demon,” Grayson complains. “I’m going to call you Lambert.”

Aiden half-laughs and half-coughs his amusement, and Lambert accidentally steps on Aiden’s foot. Twice.

When the kittens wear themselves out again, they each collect their own and return to their rooms. Letho tugs Gaetan close, kissing him softly.

“Success, I think,” Gaetan says, grinning. “Have you thought about what to name them? I thought we could call one Cilian.”

“Hmm. How about Cilian and Marú?” Letho suggests.


End file.
